A Rose With No Name
by generalquistis
Summary: Deceiving title? Maybe yes, maybe no. Aerith writes a love letter to Cloud, attaching it to a rose... but unfortunately, the rose and the letter ended up in the wrong hands... what happends now? R&R...
1. One

A Rose With No Name

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own anything but my own sanity and my own brain that processed this thing during one lazy afternoon and forced the idea from its main control center to my imagination to my fingers and from my fingers to the keyboards and from the keyboard to the PC. Duh…

Author's Note: I know the title's deceiving… but don't be fooled… it's not what you think it is… -.-' Anyway, the setting's different… Aerith is alive… Sephiroth is alive… Rufus is alive… somewhat an alternate universe but I just hope you simply enjoy this one. =) I'm just in a giggly mood right now because I drank too much mocha frappe at Starbucks for lunch… so I ended up writing this…

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ONE: At the AVALANCHE Home

            A typical day of a young woman would usually start with a trip to the bathroom to fix herself up for the day or just fix her bed and then head for the bathroom already…

Usually…

That's what she always does.

But this morning's different…

She instead of going to the bathroom or proceeding to fix her bed first, she went straight to the study desk and pulled out some blank sheets of paper from the drawer and grabbed a black-inked sign pen. Taking a deep breath and sighing heavily with a shy smile on her face, she tossed a lock of her mahogany hair off her right shoulder before starting to write, "To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you… and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…" 

With that, she giggled softly and folded the letter. Afterwards, she opened up another drawer and her lovely emerald green eyes sparkled with delight upon seeing the lovely red rose. She got it carefully and then grabbed a white ribbon from the dresser next to the study desk and used it to tie the letter to the rose. 

Looking back at the two other girls on their own beds sleeping with her in the bedroom, she realized that she still has time to hog the bathroom before the two wakes up, so she closed all the drawers and left the rose and the letter on top of the study desk and headed straight to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it.

Upon hearing the bathroom door close, Tifa opened her eyes and blinked upon seeing the blinding sunlight entering through the window. "Ugh…" she moaned in annoyance before turning away and sitting up, stretching. "Good morning, Aerith and Yuffie!" she greeted sleepily before turning to see her two roommates, but she raised an eyebrow when she found that the other bed was empty and that Yuffie was still asleep. With that, she just shrugged and got up and started fixing her bed. She started to hum a song (which is actually her theme) and upon turning her gaze to the study desk, she somewhat let out a gasp and went to it, seeing the rose with the letter…

…and the white ribbon.

She frowned slightly as she got the letter, unfolded it and read it silently. "_To my beloved, I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…"_ She froze and somewhat blushed. "Who's this from?" she thought with a secret excitement in her eyes. She began to search the back of the paper for a signature but there was none. "There must be something here that could symbolize the person who gave this…" she trailed off when she saw the white ribbon.

White, white, white…

Who wears white?

White, white, white…

"Who wears white more often than anyone I ever knew…" she thought silently as she stared at the white ribbon.

She smiled coyly but she touched her lips in an effort to stop herself from smiling further. "Rufus," she figured out. She stifled an excited scream after she folded the letter again and attached it back to the rose with the white ribbon. "I have to see him!" she thought and let out a "hee hee hee!" giggle before leaving the rose on the study desk and running out of the room.

However, that "hee hee hee" had awoken Yuffie. "What's Tifa up to now?" she thought in annoyance, and the first thing she saw was the study desk because her bed was facing it… and yes, she saw the rose. "What the…" she stood up immediately and got it and started to read…

*** 

            "C'mon, can't I go to ShinRa and just drop by there?" Tifa asked.

"No." Cloud answered simply.

"Why?" Tifa asked.

"Aerith and I are going on a date today and no one will be left here to do the laundry." He said.

"Let Yuffie do it," she said.

"No need to make her do the laundry, Cloud. It's all done." Vincent told them. "I already put all the clothes in their respective closets... I think…" He continued.

"You did the laundry?" Tifa asked.

Vincent shrugged. "Couldn't sleep last night. I just ended up doing chores…" he told her with a sheepish smile on his face. "What's with the _'I think'_?" Cloud asked.

"There's a power failure last night… something must be wrong with ShinRa… so it was very, very dark and I couldn't see a thing so I think I entered the wrong rooms. I think I'd better check on them," Vincent told them.

"Yeah, I think so too… because I just found pink panties in my closet this morning," Cloud told him with a ridiculous look on his face.

Tifa laughed. "Are you wearing it?" she asked.

"Of course not," he argued.

The all turned to the stairs when they heard Cid's footsteps coming down. 

Vincent turned to him, "Did you get your laundry?" he asked.

Cid shrugged. "Didn't really check the closet." He replied before heading for the kitchen.

Then, Red XIII came down the stairs.

"Did you get it?" Vincent asked him.

Red XIII stared at him. "Get what?" he asked.

"Your laundry," Vincent asked mindlessly.

"I don't wear clothes." Red XIII replied with a ridiculous look on his face.

"Are you gonna ask everyone that comes down the stairs?" Tifa asked.

"I'd better just check on the others upstairs. You continue pestering Cloud with your Rufus-infatuation thing," he told her with a teasing wink before rushing up the stairs.

Vincent reached the second floor and started off with the girls' room. He didn't knock, he just entered and said, "Did you get it?" and saw Yuffie.

Yuffie was quiet, just staring at him as she started to blush. "Oh my gawd… Mister Valentine… I never even thought you liked me!" she said happily as she ran to him and embraced him tightly.

Vincent's eyes grew wide and tried to push her away. "What are you…" he trailed off when Yuffie stared at him. "But unfortunately, I don't like you. Besides, you're too old and you're not my type," she continued with an apologetic look on her face before letting go of him and as she walked away to the stairs, she just let go of the rose and the letter. Vincent leaned against the doorway, wiping his sweat away. "Icks…" he thought disgustingly, but smiled secretly upon thinking about Lucrecia. "Oh well…" he thought before turning to the rose on the floor with the letter attached to it with a white ribbon. He frowned slightly as he went to it and picked it up…

*** 

            Sephiroth stood silently outside the window of the hallway. Okay, fine, he's spying on them, but he caught sight of Vincent and stopped for a while, thinking what was going on. "What's that? A rose?" he thought silently.

*** 

            Vincent finished reading the letter and attached it back to the rose. "Who would even write to me… did this come from Yuffie?" he thought silently. 

He thought about Lucrecia.

He sighed and shook his head. "Nah… impossible… I should stop dreaming of the impossible," he said with a disappointed look on his face.

*rustle*

The sound came from outside, so he turned to the window located at the end of the hallway and his eyes grew wide upon seeing…

"SEPHIROTH?!?!?!?" he accidentally yelled in too much shock before dropping the rose and the letter on the floor accidentally.

Sephiroth instantly jumped off from his spot and ran off when he reached the ground.

Vincent rushed to the window and opened it, looking outside with a disgusted look on his face. "Sephiroth gave this to me?!?!" he thought in disbelief.

"What's going on?" he was interrupted when Aerith spoke up from behind him.

He jerked and faced him with wide eyes. "Wh…what… oh, nothing." He lied before walking away from her and rushing down the stairs.

Aerith shrugged. "What's wrong with him?" she thought silently before spotting the rose with the letter on the floor. She gasped and ran to it, picking it up. "Now how the hell did you get in here?!" she said aloud as if scolding it. With that, she went down the stairs and found that all the boys were in the living room watching television while Vincent paced back and forth with a troubled look on his face. She smiled lovingly when she saw Cloud, but when he turned his gaze to her from the TV, she instantly hid the rose behind her and just flashed him a sweet smile.

Cloud smiled at her, "Good morning, Aerith," he greeted.

"Good morning, Cloud," she said happily before rushing to the kitchen, seeing Tifa and Yuffie preparing breakfast. She listened silently to their conversation as she approached the dining table, locating Cloud's usual spot there.

"I just can't believe Vincent wrote me a stupid love letter…" Yuffie said.

"He wrote you a love letter?" Tifa asked.

"Oh never mind. I don't like him anyway. He's too old. We'd look awkward together!" Yuffie snapped.

Tifa smiled and giggled. "I just received a very sweet letter and a rose from guess who…" she said.

"Barret?" Yuffie asked mindlessly.

"NO!" Tifa exclaimed.

Yuffie laughed. "Just kidding! Well… Vincent?"

"What made you say that?" Tifa asked.

"Maybe he's desperate to have a girlfriend and he sent those kind of things to all of the girls in this house," Yuffie explained.

"I don't think he'd do that. He still loves Lucrecia… but anyway… c'mon, keep on guessing!" Tifa encouraged with a wink.

"Definitely not Cloud… is it Cid?" Yuffie asked.

"Shera will kill me," Tifa said with a weak smile on her face.

"Hmm… Red XIII?" Yuffie asked.

Aerith quietly placed the rose with the letter on top of Cloud's dining chair and approached the two. "Mind if I help?" she asked.

"Hi, Aerith! Guess what… the most unusual thing happened to me today!" Tifa said happily.

Aerith examined her face and blinked as she got the frying pan. "What happened?" she asked with a curious expression on her face.

"I KNOW! It's that uptown boy!" Yuffie exclaimed to Tifa, interrupting her answer to Aerith.

Tifa smiled at Yuffie. "Close enough," she said with a wink.

Aerith began to fry some eggs. "As long as it's not that ugly old man from Sector One…" she said.

"Give up?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, who's the lucky guy who likes you?" Aerith asked with an excited smile on her face.

"At first I really can't believe it because… we hardly know each other… but… through that sweet letter, I never thought that I could love someone like him…" Tifa said dreamily.

From the living room, the boys could hear her say that. Barret, Cid, Vincent, Red XIII and Cloud all exchanged disgusted looks. "Girls are sappy when they're in-love…" Barret said.

Back to the kitchen, Tifa was still swooning when they were interrupted by Cloud who just entered. "What's for breakfast?" he asked.

"The usual stuff," Yuffie replied.

"I'll just wait here." He told them as he pulled a chair and sat down on it.

Aerith stiffened when she realized that Cloud wasn't sitting on his usual chair… the chair where she placed the rose. "But I want to surprise him… I think I'll just remain silent…" she thought before continuing to cook.

"C'mon, Teef! Who's the lucky guy?" Yuffie asked with a stubborn tone.

"If I tell you you'll hate me…" Tifa said.

"Why would I even hate you? It's not like you're in-love with President Rufus ShinRa, are you?! Haha! That's when we're really going to start mocking you, Teef," Yuffie nudged her with a wink.

Tifa stiffened when she heard that so she just shut up.

Red XIII got into the kitchen and walked to his food dish.

"Oh, Red, there you are! Won't you take out the trash?" Yuffie asked.

Red XIII turned his gaze to the garbage bag by the back door. "Okay," he replied before sniffing the area, wanting to search for other trash scattered around so that he wouldn't be going in and out of the house anymore just to throw everything away. A certain scent led him to the chair where the rose is, so he went there and got it with his teeth and walked to the garbage bag and placed it inside.

Cloud watched as Red XIII started to bring the trash outside, using the doggie door (which is really big so that he could fit) and turned to the girls with a ridiculous look on his face. "Can you believe that in the news this morning, ShinRa just started a recycling center and they'll be collecting all our trash?" he asked.

"A recycling center?" Yuffie asked in disbelief.

"That's nice of them… Rufus is really better than his father," Aerith said.

"Better be cautious, still, because who knows, they could still be doing that for something bad!" Cloud told them.

"I don't see anything wrong…" Tifa stopped talking when she realized that she wouldn't want to be busted. "…anyway, since Vincent's done with the chores last night, I'll just be going out to… to shop for clothes," she told them. 

Fine, it's just an alibi so that she can go to Sector One.

"Shopping?" Yuffie and Aerith asked in excitement.

"Uh-oh… wrong move, Tifa," Tifa thought silently to herself.

"Can we come along with you?!" Yuffie asked excitedly.

"Uhm… I'll just be shopping for… lingerie?" Tifa told them, feeling so unsure and she could feel herself getting nervous.

Cloud made a disgusted face. "What for?" he asked.

"N…nothing, I just thought I'd go out and buy new… uh… new thongs?" Tifa told him.

"You don't wear thongs," Aerith pointed out with a look of perplexity on her face.

"Damn… gotta think of something else…" Tifa thought silently. "Well then, new brassieres and cotton undies…" she told them.

Silence.

She forced a fake laugh. "Oh you know, they've got this new design wherein… wherein there are red and white hearts on it and it really looks cute! Heeheeheeheehee!" she continued nervously.

"Red and white hearts?" Yuffie asked in disbelief.

"Yeah…" Tifa lied.

"Who manufactured those? ShinRa?" Cloud asked with a joking look on his face.

"ShinRa's manufacturing underwear? That's really peculiar," Aerith said.

"Yeah… and it's got the ShinRa colors too…" Yuffie said with a ridiculous look on her face as she began to set the table.

Tifa just smiled uneasily at them. "Hehehe…" she laughed weakly.

*** 


	2. Two

A Rose With No Name

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own anything but my own sanity and my own brain that processed this thing during one lazy afternoon and forced the idea from its main control center to my imagination to my fingers and from my fingers to the keyboards and from the keyboard to the PC. Duh…

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TWO: ShinRa

            "Goodness. You call this a job?! Sorting trash! Kyah…" Scarlet complained as she began to sort out the last of the trash for that afternoon.

"So much for being punished for not attending the meeting on time…" she thought miserably.

She was about to give up when she heard Reeve's voice from behind her, "Are you finished with that? President Rufus wants to talk to you," and the voice startled her, so she accidentally knocked off the trash bag, scattering all the contents on the floor. "You idiot! You startled me! KYAH!" she screamed angrily.

"You're too crabby, I did not startle you!" he argued as he neared her.

She got up and faced him angrily. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I just came here to…"

But she did not let him finish, she just screamed "KYAH!" at him before sitting down again and started to pick up the trash. He just shrugged and walked out.

"Stupid Reeve…" she muttered miserably, but she stopped when her gaze came across a perfectly red rose. For some reason, it still looked clean and it still smelled like a rose… and she noticed the letter tied to it with a white ribbon. She frowned slightly as she picked it up and examined it. She sniffed it and she smiled when she realized that it still smelled good. "Where did this come from?" she thought in total curiosity as she unattached the letter and unfolded it, reading it quietly, _"To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…" _ She froze. "What the hell is this?! Someone gave me a rose with a love letter?!" she thought in disbelief as she began to recall who entered the room moments ago. She wanted to scream in disgust, so she did, "KYAH! REEVE?!?!?"

With that, she started to fold the letter again and attached it to the rose and left it alone there on the table before proceeding upstairs to confront Reeve. A few minutes after she left the room, Reno got inside with a clipboard. "Miss Scarlet, Boss Tseng wants you to process the info here," he called out, but stopped when he realized that Scarlet wasn't there anymore. He slowly approached the table, "Where could she be?" he thought with an annoyed look on his face. He put down the clipboard on top of the table and saw the rose.

He got it and the letter, staring at it for a while. He chuckled lightly. "Gee… who the hell would give a rose to someone like Scarlet?" he said aloud with a ridiculous smile on his face before finally deciding to grab the letter and read it aloud. "_To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…" _He made a face. "Who's the unlucky guy?" he said in disgust.

"Hey, Reno, what are you doing? Tseng's looking for you,"

He turned to the door and saw Elena who was already approaching him. He remained in his current position but he had this impish smile on his face. "Hey, Elena, come here and check this out! Somebody gave a rose to Scarlet and then there's also a love letter attached to it!" he said.

Elena smiled excitedly and jumped up and down as she joined Reno, their backs facing the door. "Really?! Who's the unlucky guy who's fallen madly in-love with her?" she asked.

Reno handed the rose to Elena to make her see it, "Hehehehe… I don't know… I'll read it to you: _To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much…"_

"Oh my God?!"

Reno and Elena jerked upright when they heard Tseng's voice from the doorway.

Tseng stared at them in total disbelief. "The two of you are… are…" he stammered.

Reno and Elena raised their eyebrows at Tseng.

"The two of you are dating?! I can't believe it!" Tseng said in disbelief.

"What?!" Reno yelled in surprise.

Tseng just smiled at them. "C'mon, you need not hide anything from me… I'll just be upstairs, okay?" he said with a wink before leaving.

Elena was in awe as she stared at the rose. "He must've thought that…" she trailed off as she looked up at Reno with a disgusted look on her face. 

"YECH!" they both said in unison before Reno grabbed the rose and reattached the letter to it with the white ribbon. "I'm sure he's gonna blab it to Rude, President Rufus, Scarlet and the others… and soon the whole of ShinRa will know and then the whole world will know!" he snapped in panic.

"I'll be going ahead," she told him before running off.

Reno rushed upstairs, not realizing that the rose was still in his hands. At some point when he reached the 70th floor, because he was running too fast, he bumped against Heidegger. 

"GYAH!" Heidegger yelled in surprise, causing Reno to drop the rose accidentally to the floor. "Watch where you're going, Booze Boy! Are you plannin' to give me a heart attack?" he demanded angrily.

"Not really… but you didn't hear anything about me yet?" Reno asked.

Heidegger frowned ridiculously. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

Reno just shrugged, figuring that that was a signal that Tseng hasn't blabbed about him and Elena yet… with that, Reno just went ahead, ignoring him.

Heidegger snorted. "Gyah… how disrespectful," he muttered before turning to the floor upon noticing something red on it. He raised an eyebrow as he picked it up and examined it. "What a pretty rose… and what's with the letter…" he thought as he got the letter and began to read it silently. 

After reading it, he had wide eyes as he scanned the whole place while folding the letter again. "Oh my…" he froze when he remembered Reno's words, "…_didn't you hear anything about me yet?_" he wanted to vomit. "GYAH! Reno is gay?! I haven't heard that before! Maybe that's what he's talking about?!" he said in panic as he began to pace back and forth. He stopped when he heard some footsteps going his way and some yelling.

Two voices: Scarlet and Reeve.

"I told you I don't like you, so it's impossible that I can love you!" Reeve yelled.

"Kyah! So you're just tricking me when you sent me that letter?! How could you?!" 

And Heidegger heard the sound of someone slapping another person's face.

"Ow! I told you I didn't write any love letter?!" Reeve yelled.

"Kyah!" Scarlet started to cry.

The two stopped when they saw Heidegger looking at them. Heidegger smiled impishly at them, "I never knew you two had it going already… gyahahahahahahahahaha!" he teased.

"Why, I never…" Reeve snapped.

"Kyah! Heidegger, Reeve's just like the other men out there! He tells a girl he loves her and then he's just going to leave her!? KYAH!" she explained frantically with a high-pitched loud voice.

Heidegger kept on laughing.

Reeve kept on explaining.

Scarlet kept on yapping.

From inside Rufus's office, they could hear Reno and Elena reasoning about random stuff.

Rufus has had enough of the noise so he just yelled, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!! Just SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP, WILL YA?!?!?" 

Everyone fell silent.

"Kyah…" Scarlet muttered.

"I guess it's time to have that little talk with Rufus again… here comes the sermon…" Reeve said before heading to Rufus's office.

"Gyah…" Heidegger followed.

*** 

            Rufus stared at all of them, "So, would anyone mind telling me what's causing all of the commotion and the yelling and all of you ended up fighting?!"

"If I tell him the truth, I'll end up embarrassing myself…" Scarlet thought silently.

The same thoughts were also in Heidegger, Reeve, Reno, Elena, Tseng and Rude's minds.

Scarlet's supposedly confession: Kyah… Reeve gave me this lovely red rose with a love letter… and then when I confronted him he denied everything! Kyah… and I thought that he was a decent man… kyah… I'll never love again… kyah…

Heidegger's supposedly confession: Reno is gay and he gave me a rose with a love letter.

Reeve's supposedly confession: I really like Scarlet… duh…

Reno's supposedly confession: I really like Elena… heheheheheheh…

Elena's supposedly confession: I really like Reno… heeheehee!

Tseng's supposedly confession: Elena and Reno are dating. He gave her a rose and I heard him cite sweet nothings to her.

Rude's supposedly confession: … 

But they did not speak up.

Rufus got up from his desk and clenched his fists, making known to his executives that he was already losing patience with them. He was about to scold them again but he stopped himself when he noticed that Heidegger was holding a red rose and a folded paper was attached to it with a white ribbon. He frowned slightly, "What's that, Heidegger?" he asked, referring to it.

Heidegger realized that he was still holding the rose. His eyes grew wide in shock, so did the others, except for Rude (who knew that his eyes even widened? He's wearing shades…duh…).

Rufus noticed their reactions, and wondered what was wrong with the rose, so he approached them, "What's that?" he asked again.

Heidegger looked up at him nervously. "Uhm… I… I found it downstairs in the… I mean, by the main entrance… and… it's for you!" he said with a fake smile on his face before handing the rose to Rufus.

Rufus's frown deepened as he took the rose and the letter, staring at it for a while before deciding to finally undo the knot on the white ribbon, get the letter and read it.

As he read it, his executives and the Turks were looking at one another in total confusion.

Rufus's frown disappeared and he stifled a smile on his face as he reread it again with a soft tone, "_To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…"_

He placed the rose and the letter on top of his desk before faking a serious expression on his face and facing everyone again with a stiff look. "Must not smile…" he reminded himself silently, though he really felt excited and light-hearted. 

"Where did this come from?" he asked them with a calm tone.

"Uh…" Heidegger stammered.

Rude saw the white ribbon and thought, "White… white… white…" and Tifa's image entered his mind. 

Her white sleeveless top.

He raised his hand to catch Rufus's attention, and when the President turned to him, he spoke up, "Tifa Lockheart,"

The executives and the rest of the Turks all stared at Rude in awe. 

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "T…Tifa?" he asked in awe. Everyone noticed that he suddenly became very interested and that his anger faded away.

"Kyah… yes, it's from… that… ugh… that girl…" Scarlet reasoned.

Rufus wanted to get out of there because he did not want them to see that he's really happy. "Hah! Finally, Tifa noticed me at last! I never thought she also liked me! Hahahahaha…" he thought silently with a smirk as he flipped his hair and began to attach the letter to the rose again. "I'll just go downstairs for a while…" he told them mindlessly as he walked out of his office with the rose on his hand.

After he got out, everyone sighed in relief.

*** 


	3. Three

A Rose With No Name

By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own anything but my own sanity and my own brain that processed this thing during one lazy afternoon and forced the idea from its main control center to my imagination to my fingers and from my fingers to the keyboards and from the keyboard to the PC. Duh…

------------------------------------------------------------------- 

THREE: Back in the AVALANCHE Home…

            Rufus handed a box with the rose and the letter inside it to a SOLDIER. "I want you to deliver this to Sector Seven… to Miss Tifa Lockheart." He commanded.

The SOLDIER looked at him in disbelief before nodding. "Yes, President Rufus, sir…" and left.

Rufus sighed heavily as he leaned against the receptionist's desk. This is what he did: He wanted to return the rose and the letter to Tifa… and he placed everything inside the box, but this time, he also included another letter but it wasn't attached to the rose. He smiled secretly before proceeding upstairs again.

*** 

            Tifa was seated by the front porch, feeling a little down because Cloud and the others did not allow her to go out of the house without any companion. She sighed heavily before looking up at the person approaching her. She frowned slightly when she realized that it was a SOLDIER. "Eh… are you Miss Tifa Lockheart?" he asked.

Tifa nodded before standing up. "Yes," she replied a little glumly.

The SOLDIER handed her the box and bowed down in farewell.

Tifa turned to him. "Is this for me?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am, it's from my boss," the SOLDIER replied before leaving.

Tifa opened the box and she was surprised to see the same rose and the same paper attached to it with a white ribbon, but what really caught her attention was the other folded paper inside. She removed everything from the box and placed the rose with its letter on the front porch, before she got the other paper and flipped it open, reading it silently: "_Dearest Tifa, I'd like to invite you over for dinner tomorrow evening here in ShinRa. I'll ask Reeve, Reno and Elena to pick you up at around 6:30. I'll be waiting for you… 'til then… Love, Rufus._"

She smiled sweetly as she held the letter close to her chest as she sighed dreamily, looking up at the first few stars that showed up in the night sky. With that, she just giggled excitedly and ran inside, mindlessly leaving the rose and the letter outside, but still holding Rufus's personal letter in her hand.

Cloud was surprised when he saw Tifa prancing up the stairs. "What's wrong with her?" Vincent asked.

Cloud shrugged before standing up. "Too much TV's hurting my eyes… I'll just go outside and wait for Aerith to come home from the marketplace," he said before getting outside. He was surprised to see the red rose and the letter. He frowned slightly as he picked it up and unattached the letter from the rose's stem. He opened it and read it quietly, his frown fading away as he did so, "_To my beloved. I hope you receive this with so much of my love and my kisses most especially for you. I picked this rose from the secret garden of my love for you…_ _and I wanted so much to give it to you. I love you very much. You know who I am…"_

He smiled gently. "…of course… Aerith…" he said softly.

"Hi, Cloud," Aerith greeted as she approached him with a basket of vegetables.

He smiled lovingly at her as he approached her.

Aerith noticed that he was already holding the red rose and the letter. She smiled happily. "Thank goodness, he finally got it! I was wondering where it went!" she thought silently as she put down the basket so that she could return Cloud's loving embrace…

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-end-… 

Is it? +_+


End file.
